Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is taking action to rein in the federal government’s use of drones.
Paul introduced The Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act of 2012 on Wednesday, which would require the government to obtain a warrant before using drones for domestic surveillance.
Exceptions would be made in the case of patrolling national borders, emergencies and times when there is a high risk of a terrorist attack. The bill would also allow any person to sue the federal government for violating the act, and would allow any illegally collected information to be used “as evidence in a criminal, civil, or regulatory action.”
“We should not be treated like criminals or terrorists while we are simply conducting our everyday lives,” said Paul, in a recent CNN op-ed about the bill. “We should not have our rights infringed upon by unwarranted police-state tactics.”
Georgia Republican Rep. Austin Scott introduced similar legislation in the House several days prior.
As of June 15, according to OpenCongress.org, Scott’s bill has zero cosponsors.